Messi’s heartbreaking goodbye to dad Jorge: ‘I wanted the final for you’ | OneFootball

Lionel Messi bared his soul on social media with a heartbreaking farewell letter to his father, Jorge Messi, who passed away last Saturday in Rosario at the age of 68. The captain of the Argentina National Team and Inter Miami expressed the deep pain he is going through, revealing intimate details of how they experienced the recent 2026 World Cup and voicing strong uncertainty about the future of his professional career.

In the emotional text, the Rosario-born star admitted how hard it is for him to accept the loss and reflected on the strong bond they shared. He recalled that his father had repeatedly asked him to play in this last World Cup, but his health worsened dramatically in the days before the tournament. As it was the first time Jorge could not be there to support him from the stands, Messi admitted that his great motivation to keep advancing in the competition was to buy time so his father could recover and travel: “We made it to the final and you couldn’t be there. I wanted to win it to take it to you and show you a new one. I couldn’t, my legs had nothing left in them”, the footballer lamented, revealing that he played at the very limit of his physical abilities.

View this post on InstagramA post shared by Leo Messi (@leomessi)

The letter also revealed the sad reality of their reunion after the World Cup runner-up finish against Spain. Due to the advanced deterioration of his health, Jorge Messi was not fully aware of how the tournament had ended: “When I arrived, you thought we had lost the final on penalties. We couldn’t talk about anything that happened.” Likewise, the Argentine captain acknowledged the fundamental role his father had played since the beginning of his career, acting as his support, friend, and representative, taking him to every training session after long workdays and suffering through every match.

The most striking part of the message set off alarm bells in the football world, as Messi cast doubt on his future on the pitch in the absence of his main pillar: “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you, I don’t know how to go on. I only played football, and now I have serious doubts that I’ll keep doing it much longer”. The message ends with a promise to keep his legacy alive through the upbringing of his three children and one final expression of gratitude:

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.